|| Flame of Recca: The Spirits Within (The House) ||
| En | Ning |
Disclaimer: Duh the characters don't belong to us, for one thing, I can't draw at all and Ning's look, well, much improvement is needed to reach that kind of standard. Think of all the fun we could have if they belonged to us though... (several anime characters vomit blood, others drop dead in fright, the rest decide to carry out mass suicide.) Anyway, don't sue us cause we're still students. Also, we tend to procrastinate, so you'll be wasting your time trying to get us to pay up. Ü
Last Revised: 03/08/2001
By the way, this is just a rough draft. We haven't had the chance to send it for proofreading yet, so expect some errors.
| Chapter 11 |
In a hallway somewhere...
Joker and Raiha were making their way towards the library using the directions given to them by the lady.
Joker finally broke the silence by asking, "Oi, Raiha-han, what do you think of that girl?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, she's kind of strange. I mean, how would she know all about the library and stuff like that? It's like she's been in this place for a very long time. And that in itself is impossible judging from the state of this house."
"Hm... I don't know. Let's just find Kurei-sama. Maybe he's had better luck than us."
The two assassins had come to the end of the corridor by this time and were now looking for the stone wall hiding the staircase, according to the lady.
"Here it is." Raiha stooped down and started pushing all the bricks at the bottom left hand side to find the one which worked the mechanism. One of them gave at his touch and the wall rotated on itself with a whirring noise similar to the one which had landed both of them at the bottom of the mansion earlier on. A stone staircase was revealed.
Raiha started down the stairs, holding the light madougo, followed closely by Joker. They did not notice the wall rotating back into its original position, sealing off their entrance.
In the library...
Kurei flipped curiously through a few of the thick volumes on the table he saw in front of him. He sneezed as a cloud of dust flew up and into his eyes.
Kurenai giggled, 'This place could use some cleaning. Bless you.'
Kurei sniffed wrathfully and opened his mouth to say some cutting comment, only to go into another sneezing fit courtesy of the deep breath he had taken. Kurenai could not hold back her giggles.
'*giggle* You look really funny when you sneeze. *giggle* Wish I had a camera with me.'
"It's *not* funny!" Kurei snapped. He glanced over at the fireplace and noticed that there were a few portraits hanging above it. He walked over to take a closer look at them. There was one of a lady, probably in her twenties, with silver hair and purple eyes. A strange medallion of some sort hung around her neck.
'Strange, where have I seen her before? She looks really familiar,' Kurei thought to himself. He shrugged and went back to looking over the books.
*crash*
Kurei whipped around and scanned the library warily. There was not a soul apart from him (and Kurenai, if you could count flames). Yet, the portrait of the silver-haired lass had fallen to the floor, its heavy gilded frame splintering. Kurei walked closer to examine the fallen painting, sneezing continuously due to the cloud of dust that had flown up when the portrait had hit the dusty floor.
*sneeze* *sneeze* *sneeze*
'Maybe you should have brought a mask,' Kurenai teased as she sent him a mental picture of Noroi.
Kurei ignored her as he bent down to get a closer look. The painting was superbly done. The lady was extraordinarily lifelike, and her surroundings seemed almost real. It was a beautiful piece of art. The lady herself was one of the most beautiful women Kurei had ever seen. Her long silver hair flowing in the wind, she sat ramrod straight in a garden chair, her large, intense purple eyes turned toward the viewer. But there was something wrong about it, no matter how perfect the painting looked at first glance. The lady sat unnaturally, her gaze cold, heartless and almost cruel. Behind her, was a scene of carnage, although it was apparent only to the most observant.
Kurei shuddered and backed away from the portrait. The lady gave him the creeps. He turned his back to the painting and resumed flipping through the heavy tomes on the table. With his back turned, he was unaware of the canvas rolling back to reveal another painting behind the original.
Genjurou and Noroi were *still* falling at terminal velocity...
Will they ever land?
Mikoto and Mokuren were *still* doing naughty things...
Will they ever stop?
Actually, short of catastrophe, no.
"La la la..."
Kirin was singing again. But this time, Neon had joined her and the two of them were singing cheerfully at the tops of their voices, their voices clashing horribly.
The two men sighed and rubbed their temples. Rasen, especially, was having a splitting headache. After all, Jisho had not had to endure Kirin's countless screaming in his ears. Rasen had, and it was a surprise he was not deaf yet. Yet.
"Onna, will you shut up?" Jisho screamed in frustration.
"When I was young..." Kirin continued to sing.
'I'm sure Karen Carpenter is turning in her grave,' Rasen told her drolly.
Kirin glared at him and continued, "It's yesterday once more..."
Neon joined her in a canon that sounded more like noise than music.
"Every shalalala..."
Jisho pulled at his hair, in frustration. Rasen thought of doing the same but it would just mess up his perfectly gelled hair.
The four of them continued trudging down the corridor, the two men gritting their teeth with every step. There was no turning back now. Neon's over-enthusiasm had blocked any other possible paths.
"Onna, that was dumb!" Jisho grumbled. "We should have gone *my* way!"
"Oh yeah, well, maybe there are pythons and black mambas your way!" Neon shot back. "Why don't you just quit whinging, you baka!"
Rasen sighed. Kirin continued singing.
"Who's whinging? I'm just... just telling you you're wrong!" Jisho looked extremely insulted.
"Well, you don't have to keep doing so every like, five minutes!" Neon retorted. "Sheesh, you're worse than a broken tape recorder!"
Jisho never got to answer as he suddenly spotted green lights flashing ahead and the steady sound of approaching footsteps.
The four Uruha flattened themselves against the walls as the footsteps came closer and closer. Who knew what enemies might be lurking here. But the footsteps, along with the green lights, passed them and then receded once more into the distance. Yet, apart from a faint shuffling sound, there was nothing. Nobody, not a single soul, not even an animal.
"ARGHHH!!! THIS PLACE IS HAUNTED!!!" Kirin screamed in Rasen's ear as she tried once again to cling onto him.
'Delayed reaction,' Rasen sighed as he tried to pry Kirin off him. It was like trying to pry a leech off. Too bad he had left the crowbar back at the Uruha mansion.
"It's all the fault of the two of you! If you weren't singing so loudly, whatever that was wouldn't have found us! Jisho snapped at Neon.
MY FAULT?! Look who's talking now!" Neon began at the top of her voice. *Another* fight was about to start; Kirin felt like fainting, Rasen started to feel suicidal...
TBC…
Author's note: *singing* "When I was young I listened to the radio…"
^_^ Okay, I have no idea why they're singing English songs considering they are Japanese and everything. It's just that Yesterday Once More is probably my favourite song at the moment. I like a whole bunch of others, like Once in a Lifetime, which is really nice. Karen Carpenter just as a really nice voice… and the tune is so beautiful too! I was listening to it over and over again as I was typing that part so I decided to include it. ^_^
Oh yeah, I just started watching the Fushigi Yuugi OVAs after finishing the series itself. The bus ride to the hotsprings is so funny! *laughing fit* I'm glad Soi fried Ashitare. *evil grin* I kind of pity Suboshi too. *sweatdrop* But it was even funnier when they actually got to the hotsprings and they had to dress up as girls. *hysterical laughing fit* Oh man… all of them looked so funny, except for Chiriko and Chichiri. Nakago was so funny!!! And so was Tasuki!!! I was laughing my head off. ^_^ Poor Mitsukake… ^_^;
But I seriously don't understand the OVA proper. It's just so warped! But I think Hotohori's great-grandson or whatever is pretty cute. ^_^
Lastly, arigato Kai for proofreading (our spelling is rather atrocious) and giving suggestions.
Ning.
